The Lucas Countyan

Frank Daniel Myers died the morning of December 23, 2023, at Lucas County Health Center in Chariton.

Frank was born on March 27, 1946, during the time his parents, Daniel and Reefa (Miller) Myers, lived on the Evans place southeast of Russell.  When Frank was five, Daniel and Reefa purchased the Teater farm seven miles south of Russell, which remained their home for more than 40 years.  During the early 1990s, Daniel and Reefa moved into Chariton where they lived contentedly until September 3, 1999, when Reefa died.  Daniel died on July 31, 2004, a week after he suffered a severe stroke while engaged in a favorite pastime – riding with his son through the hills of southern Iowa.

Almost all of the preceding paragraph came from the obituary Frank wrote for the Mason City Globe-Gazette (where he worked at the time) after his father died.  For those of you who knew Frank, you recognize the style and also know that only Frank is qualified to write his own obituary.  Not surprisingly, unless we’ve missed it, he chose not to do so.  What we have instead is this treasure of nearly twenty years of his blog posts.

When Frank died, he was President of the Lucas County Historical Society, a member of the Chariton Historic Preservation Commission, and a member of Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Chariton.  A traditional Episcopal funeral service will be held at Saint Andrew’s on Wednesday, January 3, at 10:00 a.m.  For those who would like to hear more about Frank’s life and work, the Lucas County Historical Society and Chariton Historic Preservation Commission will host a gathering to share more of his words and our memories of him on Tuesday, January 2, from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. at the CB&Q Freight House in Chariton.  The Freight House event will be live streamed on the Facebook page of the Lucas County Preservation Alliance.  https://www.facebook.com/HotelCharitone/